Beverly Wills

            On Friday morning I ran through singing and playing "Vieille Canaille" (Old Rascal) by Serge Gainsbourg and my translation, "You Bastard You". On Saturday I'll upload it to Christian's Translations and begin preparing it for publication on the blog. 

            I played my Martin during my video and audio recording of song practice. I was worried since dropping it on its head yesterday that its B string would go out of tune a lot like it did after the accident. This time it did go off a few times in the beginning but then it pretty much stayed in tune to a normal degree through practice. It's strange though that near the beginning I tuned it and it went off again before I played it and then went off again. After that it was okay for the most part. Maybe dropping it changed something but if it's staying mostly in tune it doesn't seem worth it to cart it back to the 12th Fret for another setup. I did a lot of takes of "Megaphor" and "Sixteen Tons of Dogma". It's weird to me that over the years of doing these songs I don't seem to have improved. But then maybe I have improved but still make mistakes. If I get a good take of each song from this year's session I'll compare them to the ones I uploaded last year to see if I do play them better. 

            I weighed 85.7 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I've been in the morning in fifteen days. 

            I finished cutting up the pieces of fiber board to fill the depression in my kitchen floor. There's just one small piece that needs to have its width shaved a bit to fit. Then I'll have to figure out whether the construction glue or would glue I have will work or if I need something else for boards that will be walked on. Then I need to find tiles to cover them. I'm thinking of a checkered look, alternating between black and white or coloured tiles. 

            I weighed 85.5 kilos before lunch. In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and back. 

            I weighed 85.5 kilos at 17:00. 

            I spent some time brushing my rock encased amethyst with a wire brush and chiseling off pieces of rock to free up the crystals. This will take a while. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:18. 

            I reviewed the video I shot this morning. I don't think there are any takes of "Megaphor" or "Sixteen Tons of Dogma" worth keeping. The ending on "Sixteen Tons of Dogma" was horrible. "The Accordion" turned out not bad. 

            I compared my June 19, 2022 performance of "Comme un boomerang" to June 23 of the same year and I think I played it better on June 23. I compared June 23 to June 25 and I find June 25 has a little too much traffic noise. I compared June 23 to July 3 and I think July 3 is a little better. It also looks better. I compared July 3 to July 7 and I think July 3 is better and it also has less traffic noise. I compared July 3 to July 11 and July 11 is a better performance but I screwed up a word, so July 3 is still ahead. I compared July 2 to July 15 and I think July 15 look

            I continued to edit the copy of "Faust" I put at the end of the timeline of my "Instructions for Electroshock Therapy" project. I cut out about twenty minutes of the two hour movie. 

            I had a potato with gravy and a chicken leg while watching season 1, episodes 10 and 11 of Petticoat Junction. 

            In the first story the Hooterville Hornets have just lost the biggest football game of the year 84 to 0. Joe the coach and Herbie the quarterback rode the Cannonball from the game and the angry crowd pelted the train with rotten fruit and vegetables. Vice President Bedloe of the C & FW line is on the train and uncharacteristically the event doesn't phase him. He is smiling, being nice and responding positively to everyone and it makes Kate suspicious. Her instincts are correct as the scene changes to Hooterville when Sam Drucker learns that the next morning two directors of the railroad will be boarding the train for an inspection. Bedloe is waiting for them at the Shady Rest Hotel and confidently expecting their review to cause the Cannonball to be shut down so he can have his revenge. Sam takes the hand car to the Shady Rest to warn everyone about Bedloe's plans. He arrives there at night and warns Kate. Kate spikes Bedloe's eggnog with sherry and puts him to sleep. She puts everyone to work all night cleaning the train outside and in. Then she gets Floyd and Charlie to remove the seats from the passenger car and replaces them with furniture from the hotel lobby. The directors board the train and are met by Joe posing as a conductor. He tells them they only collect the fare at the end of the line if the customer is satisfied. They are then greeted by Billie Joe dressed in what looks like a flight attendant's uniform. She tells them she's their hostess. Herbie shines their shoes. They are impressed but say it's not as good as the French Blue Train in Europe where they have a barber and a manicurist. Joe sends for the barber and the manicurist of which they have none but improvise. Bobbie Joe gives one of them a manicure while Sam stands behind the other clicking a pair of scissors at the air without touching his hair. When Sam is finished the director looks in the mirror and declares that it's the best haircut he's ever had. While the inspectors enjoy chicken and dumplings the sisters sing them the song "The Hooterville Cannonball" to the tune of "The Wreck of Old 97". Kate tells them they've been getting economy tourist class service. The directors declare that the Cannonball is the best train they've ever ridden anywhere in the world. When they get to the Shady Rest they demote Mr. Bedloe from vice president to shoeshine boy. 

            In the second story it's market day but Kate and the girls don't want Joe to accompany them as he usually would because his birthday is approaching and they are going to Hooterville to pick up a gold watch they've ordered for his birthday. At Sam Drucker's store Sam's helper Herbie's clumsiness causes Sam to blow up at him. Kate thinks Herbie is clumsy because he has no self confidence and so she tells him that she would love to have Herbie as the assistant manager of the Shady Rest. But he accepts the job and Kate can't back down from her promise. But when Joe learns that Herbie has been hired he thinks Kate is trying to replace him. Joe quits, goes to town and gets a job mopping the floor of a juke joint. When he gets paid he returns to the hotel, pretends to have become an executive and rents a room. Kate and the girls follow him the next day to see what he's really up to. When they see his situation Kate convinces Sam to hire Joe as executive vice president but he only does so if Billie Joe is also hired. But Joe causes the store to lose money. He puts out an ad offering free dog and child care services for customers while they shop. But Mrs. Norton comes and leaves her kids and big dog then she goes shopping elsewhere. Kate has Herbie come to the store and order things for the hotel and items like caviar are so ridiculous that Joe thinks Herbie's hotel management is pathetic. Herbie thinks Joe's work in the store is pathetic and so they switch jobs. 

            Mrs. Norton was played by Beverly Wills, who was the daughter of radio and early TV star Joan Davis. Her first film appearance was at the age of 11 in "George White's Scandals", starring her mother. At the age of 18 she played Beverly Grossman on her mother's very popular sitcom "I Married Joan". Her character was her mother's character's sister. She played the trombone player in "Some Like it Hot". In 1963 she fell asleep while smoking in bed and the fire killed her, her children, and her grandmother.